Only 50 Cents
by hazelle
Summary: Movieverse, PeterMJ, oneshot. Remember when Peter called MJ in SM2? What if he happened to have an extra 50 cents on him that day, so he could tell her how he felt about her?


**Hey, I wrote most of this a while ago and recently discovered and rewrote it. I'm not sure whether it'll stay a oneshot or not, depends if my muse is in a good mood. Please read and review!**

**Only 50 Cents**

MJ scowled as she fumbled for the key to her apartment, juggling her coat and a hefty amount of grocery shopping she finally got the blasted thing in the lock and managed to put everything down before she dropped it all, tossing her keys on the table near the phone.

She paused as she heard Peter Parker's voice come through her answering machine, trying haplessly to explain why he'd missed her performance.

"I was on my way to your show…and…well, I was on my bike, uh…"

Rolling her eyes in disgust, she instead walked back to her door to lock it, Peter's excuses still resonating from the phone.

"Uh, are you there?" He asked pitifully, but MJ simply ignored him. "I really was planning on it all day, and, I know you predicted I'd disappoint you…"

"Bingo." MJ snapped back as she bolted her door, knowing full well he couldn't hear her.

"It's amazing, isn't it? How complicated a simple thing, like being someplace at 8 o'clock, can become. Actually, there was this obnoxious usher…" He continued babbling, talking but not actually saying anything.

No matter what he said, it only fuelled her anger and disappointment, and she was on the point of slamming the off button on her machine as he started trying to shift the blame for his lack of appearance to the usher, when he was cut off.

The accursed bleep that signalled he'd run out of time blared through the room. "Your time has expired. Please deposit 50 cents for the next 5 minutes." Her phone droned robotically, and MJ leant on the table, staring at her phone and becoming engaged in a stand-off. Would Peter find he cared about her enough to 'deposit 50 cents' and finish his poor excuse for an explanation, or would MJ lose her patience with him and throw her poor, innocent phone across the room first?

The seconds ticked by with no result, until MJ got so sick of waiting she turned away in disgust and began to shuffle through the papers of her script for the play that evening. She'd gone over nearly a whole page of dialogue when the phone bleeped again, and Peter's voice once more resounded in her small apartment.

"I want to tell you the truth." His voice said directly, and she paused, script in hand, and turned back to her table, heart rate suddenly speeding up as her full attention was drawn to the sound of his voice.

She heard him take a deep breath, as if gathering his courage, then he said, "So… here it is. I'm Spider-man."

The sheets of paper fluttered noisily from her limp grasp, and MJ had to support herself on the table so as not to drop down with them from the shock. A shaking finger shot out and jammed the little machine up to its full volume, leaning closer in anticipation.

Peter didn't say anything for a while, and MJ feared he'd hung up, when his voice came again, loud and clear. Too loud. MJ winced and hastily turned the volume back down as his voice blasted through her apartment, and she immediately felt guilty for being so careless, anybody could be listening in for all she knew.

"Weird, huh?"

MJ didn't notice she was nodding along with him, silently hurrying him to get to the point. When he did get to what he wanted to say, she found she'd rather he hadn't said it.

"Now you know why we can't be together."

MJ felt her throat constrict and her heart tighten in her chest. Tears sprang to her eyes and not for the first time that day she wanted to thump Peter Parker for hurting her so much. Then she recalled that it wouldn't do her hand a lot of good thanks to her newfound knowledge.

Pacing agitatedly again, she waited for some form of explanation.

"If my… enemies… found out about you…" He trailed off, apparently not knowing how to continue and instead started again.

"If you got hurt, I could never forgive myself." There was a long pause in which Peter sighed in frustration and MJ could easily imagine him banging his head against a brick wall.

"I really don't know why I've told you all this on an answering machine message" he laughed slightly then, chuckling at himself but it quickly stopped.

"All I know is that I… you know how I feel about you and…" Peter trailed off and sighed deeply again. "Good luck with the play, Mary Jane."

His voice held a note of finality, but still MJ froze, waiting for more, until when she realised that wasn't going to happen she forced herself out of her state of shock and dived for the phone, scattering pens and coffee mugs in the process.

"Peter!"

She waited on tenterhooks, willing him to still be there.

"MJ?" He sounded more than surprised and she breathed a sigh of relief. "I thought… well I thought you weren't in."

"No, I was just…" Just what MJ? Just ignoring you? "I just got through the door."

"Oh." Peter said in reply, his tone different. "So, you, uh, didn't hear my message?" He added, and MJ realised she'd caught herself in a lie.

"Um, yes, I did actually."

"Oh." Peter said again. "All of it?" He added hopefully, as if now that he'd told her he was Spider-man he wanted to take it back.

MJ resisted from rolling her eyes, and instead began picking up the various stationery she'd knocked over in her lunge to catch Peter. "_Yes_, Peter, all of it." Pausing, she decided to go for it and get the subject out in the open. "Why can't you be with me?"

Peter replied instantly. "MJ, we've been over this-"

MJ felt her anger rise at his tone. "No, Peter, _you've_ been over this with my _answering machine_. Don't you think I deserve a little more explanation than that? Or at least some choice in the matter?"

She heard Peter sigh softly. "I didn't leave that message to get you to make any changes in your life." He finally replied quietly.

MJ stared at the phone in disgust. "You didn't want me to make any changes in my life?" She eventually repeated incredulously. "How could that message _not _change anything Peter? How do you expect me to walk up the isle to John next week knowing how we feel about each other?"

"I never said I felt anything about you." Peter retorted defensively.

MJ shook her head in sheer exasperation and sighed. "You didn't need to, Peter. Look, can we do this someplace else? Telling someone your deepest darkest secret isn't the kind of thing meant for phone messages." She said and suppressed a giddy laugh that came from nowhere.

He hesitated, then said, "Uh, sure. I knew it wasn't a good idea anyway."

"Then why'd you do it?" She countered, twirling the phone cord between her fingers.

"I really don't know." Peter sighed again, some of his frustration seeping through. "Ok, how about tomorrow, 6 o'clock at that café-" He suddenly stopped talking and through the phone MJ could hear the faint whine of sirens.

"That café down Blackburn Way?" She quickly put in before he went.

"Deal. Listen, MJ, I've got to-" He sounded distracted.

"I know." She interrupted hastily. "Don't keep them waiting. Goodbye, Peter." MJ waited until she heard the 'click' that told her Peter had put down the phone, then waited for some time after that, gazing at nothing. The phone eventually slipped from her limp grasp and crashed to the floor where it let out a low beeping noise.

Now she understood his reasons for acting so oddly and pushing her away. Now she knew they needed and loved each other. Now she knew she could never marry John Jameson, or anyone else besides Peter Parker for that matter.

She also knew with a devastating certainty that she would never see Peter Parker again. She knew him too well to believe he'd be there. There'd been something in his voice, some note of morose finality that had never been there before.

Ever so slowly, as if in a daze, she sank weakly down into the nearest armchair, not noticing that she'd crumpled her script, and finally let the tears fall.

**Fin**

**If you're looking for a good Peter/MJ story, go check out Jenn1's Knowing You! And please review and tell me if you want me to continue!**


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